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Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a punishment from God or so Fundy Christians think. Fred Phelps thanked God for it. President Bush didn't do enough to help the victims as most were poor. Hurricane Katrina made landfall at in southeast Louisiana (especially hitting New Orleans hard) on August 29, 2005. At least 1,836 people lost their lives in Hurricane Katrina and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The storm is estimated to have been responsible for $81.2 Billion (2005 U.S. dollars) in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. The catastrophic failure of the flood protection in New Orleans prompted immediate review of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has, by congressional mandate, sole responsibility for design and construction of the flood protection and levee systems. Just like with 9/11 & other disasters the blame was put on Gay People.It's All Our Fault! 10 Disasters the Gays Supposedly Caused Bush's response (or lack thereof) President Bush was on vacation at his home in Crawford, Texas Staff Writer. "Bush cancels trip to Texas." September 23, 2005. Retrieved on July 15, 2006.Brooks, Rosa. "American Caesar." Los Angeles Times. September 3, 2003. Retrieved on July 15, 2006. when Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005. During his appearance at the Navy base, which was primarily for the purpose of celebrating recent actions in Iraq, the Commander in Chief urged his fellow citizens to call an 800 number to make donations to hurricane relief. Early Tuesday morning, August 30, a day after the hurricane struck, President Bush attended a V-J Day commemoration ceremony at Coronado, California.Kucher, Karen; Baker, Debbi Farr. "Bush marks anniversary of World War II's end with comparison to post-war Iraq." San Diego Union Tribune. August 30, 2005. Retrieved on July 15, 2006. 24 hours before the ceremony, storm surges began overwhelming levees and floodwalls protecting the city of New Orleans, greatly exacerbating the minimal damage from rainfall and wind when the hurricane itself veered to the East and avoided a direct hit on New Orleans.MacCash, Doug; O'Byrne, James. "After the mighty storm came the rising water." Times Picayune. August 30, 2005. Initial reports of leaked video footage of top-level briefings held before the storm claimed that this video contradicted Bush’s earlier statements that no one anticipated the breach of the levees.Staff Writer. "Video shows Bush Katrina warning." BBC News March 2, 2006. Retrieved on July 15, 2006. Transcripts revealed that Bush was warned of possible overtopping of the levees. The New York Times, in an editorial describing the President's reaction in a September 1 speech, said, "Nothing about the President's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis."Gumbel, Andrew. "'Casual to the point of careless' - Bush under fire for slow reaction." The Independent September 2, 2005. Retrieved on July 15, 2006. Bush was also criticized for not breaking off his vacation until Wednesday afternoon, more than a day after the hurricane hit on Monday.Bumiller, Elisabeth. "Bush criticized over storm response." International Herald Tribune. September 2, 2005. Retrieved on July 15, 2006. Party politics or saving lives? In January 2007, former FEMA, (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) director Michael D. Brown charged that partisan politics had played a role in the White House's decision to federalize emergency response to the disaster in Louisiana only rather than along the entire affected Gulf Coast region, which Brown said he had advocated. "Unbeknownst to me, certain people in the White House were thinking, 'We had to federalize Louisiana because she's a white, female Democratic governor, and we have a chance to rub her nose in it,'" Brown said, speaking before a group of graduate students at the Metropolitan College of New York City on January 19, 2007. "'We can't do it to Haley {Mississippi governor Haley Barbour} because Haley's a white male Republican governor. And we can't do a thing to him. So we're just gonna federalize Louisiana.'" The White House denied Brown's charges through a spokeswoman.Toosi, Nahal. "Brown: Politics played role in Katrina." The Associated Press via the Houston Chronicle, Jan. 20, 2007. Bush later attracted criticism for failing to mention hurricane recovery, Katrina or New Orleans in his 2007 State of the Union Address.Peeples, Melanie. "Bush's State of the Union Omits State of Louisiana", NPR, Jan. 24, 2007. Cheney orders oil pipeline priority over hospitals Vice President Dick Cheney on the night of August 30, 2005, and again the next morning, personally called the manager of the Southern Pines Electric Power Association and ordered him to divert power crews to electrical substations in nearby Collins, Mississippi that were essential to the operation of the Colonial Pipeline, which carries gasoline and diesel fuel from Texas to the Northeastern United States.Maute, Nikki D. "Power crews diverted." Hattiesburg American. September 11, 2005. Retrieved on July 15, 2006 (copy available at Newsdesk). The power crews were reportedly upset when told what the purpose of the redirection was, since they were in the process of restoring power to two local hospitals, but did so anyway. Shooting his friend in the face didn't kill him but Cheney probably managed to kill real people when he turned power away from hospitals. That order - to restart two power substations in Collins that serve Colonial Pipeline Co. - delayed efforts by at least 24 hours to restore power to two rural hospitals and a number of water systems in the Pine Belt. References Category:Disaster Category:Conservative Failure Category:Conservative Tactics